2016 Saintsbury Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

2016 Saintsbury Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

2016 Saintsbury Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast   We took our years of Pinot Noir experience and went westward to the Somona Coast. Like our Carneros Pinot Noir, we have made our Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir exclusively from fruit that is sourced for our single-vineyard wines.

Saintsbury Winery was founded by Richard Ward and David Graves in 1981. Incidentally they both met during their graduate studies in Enology at UC Davis while taking a brewing class together and is where they made their first non commercial wine (a Santa Barbara grown barrel fermented Riesling). Fate sometimes works its magic – David had a biology degree from UC Santa Cruz and Richard had an engineering degree and both were pursuing careers in the wine industry.

These vineyards highlight Pinot Noir at its best from the Sonoma Coast AVA: showcasing cooler sites with lower yields, resulting in amazing concentration and vibrancy.  By committing to pursuing high quality California Pinot Noir back in the late 1970s, Saintsbury founders Dick Ward and David Graves put themselves in the forefront of a movement that would eventually catapult California wines, Carneros Pinot Noir and Saintsbury onto the world wine stage. According to the Wine Spectators Matt Kramer, Saintsbury not only single-handedly demolished the old assertion that California cannot create Pinot Noirs of a Burgundian standard of delicacy and finesse, but also no winery has been more methodical in its investigation and pursuit of newly available Pinot Noir clones than Saintsbury. The stellar range of Saintsbury Pinot Noirs and unfiltered Chardonnays has never performed better than today. Hats off to Dick and Dave who continue to lead the way with innovation and inspiration.